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Doors express the heart of a room or a building, defining them as functional, majestic, mysterious, grand, elegant, secure, powerful or quaint. As ordinary as you may think the doors in your life may be, you can spice them up with a few exciting design ideas. 1) Beautiful Bronze Door Knobs Bronze door knobs were fashionable in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Oil rubbed bronze hardware will make even the plainest doorway stand out from the crowd with a look that compels one to grasp the knob and give it a turn. A pair of French antique bronze door handles from the Louis XVI era were available online recently for $600 (US). Bronze cabinet knobs and drawer pulls an also be added to kitchen cabinets to enhance their visual appeal and bring the whole look together. 2) Door Guardians from Greece and Asia Throughout the world, one can find many ancient and modern door paintings that are as mystifying as they are inviting. In feudal Japan, images of guardian warriors, Nio, appeared on doors to ward off evil. In China and Tibet, horrific demons, Mo Kuei, adorn doors to warn enemies not to enter. The Nio and Mo Kuei belong to Asian Buddhist tradition, but their use as doorway guardians can be traced back to Hellenistic Greece. Greco-Buddhist influenced art was created between the fourth century BC and fourth century AD. 3) Vines and Creepers offer Otherworldly Charm In old world Europe, one can find many examples of doorways surrounded by vibrant, colorful plant life. Wisteria’s pink, white, or purple blooms catch the eye, but it its sweet fragrance that captivates the hearts and minds of its beholders. In the US, Morning Glory is a popular landscaping vine that also features vivid pinks, whites, and reds. Not as fragrant as Wisteria perhaps, but the vine produces lovely trumpet shaped flowers. Vines and creepers around a doorway offer the visitor a feeling they are passing into another world. Certainly, the colors and fragrances easily teleport one’s mind, even if one’s body remains in the real world. 4) Gateway Murals depict your Hopes and Dreams In South and Central America, as well as Mexico, one can find doors transformed into iconic gateways with lavish paintings. Sometimes these murals represent ordinary landscapes or abstract designs. Mythical beasts, angels, and folk heroes can be found on some doors. The door art generally extends to the Spanish archway around the door. One fascinating doorway witnessed was painted as a seascape as viewed between mountains that decorated on either side of the doorway. Sometimes, these murals depict some hope or dream held in the heart of the homeowner. This artistic approach to door design is both imaginative and inspirational. 5) Strong and Elegant Wrought Iron Doors Security has always been a priority for any homeowner. One way to have a secure home yet maintain a sense of elegance and visual appeal is to install wrought iron doors. Wrought art doors can be crafted to fit rectangle or arched doorways. They range from simple designs to very ornate designs that are indeed things of beauty. Don’t be deceived by their ornate appearance. These doors fortify the entry point, making break-ins nearly impossible. When properly installed, no thief is strong enough to kick in an iron door. In fact, when SWAT teams are tasked with entering such a residence, rather than using their battering ram, they attach chains from the door to their vehicle and pull the door out. 6) Sliding Panels Bring the Outdoors Indoors Various effects can be achieved with sliding panels. Sliding glass panels are often used for patio and balcony doors. Sliding glass panels can be installed to change a boring wall into a panoramic view of the great outdoors. This can be especially dramatic when the home is situated near beautiful natural scenery. Glass panels increase the natural lighting inside the home. Home-owners find this saves money on electric and heating costs. Sliding French doors feature multiple fiberglass panels that are safe and durable. Shoji sliding panels are found in traditional Japanese homes both internally and externally. Standard seven foot sliding Shoji door kits are available online and cost around $500-$700 (US). If you decide to install a sliding Shoji door, you can choose between plain white rice paper and pre-printed rice paper. Popular pre-preprinted designs include Japanese icons such as cherry blossom trees, bamboo trees, and Japanese mountains. 7) Import the Real Thing Antique doors from the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia can be very ornate. Intricate woodworking and metalworking by old world craftsmen make for a truly unique door experience. Some people will settle for designs and concepts imported from other nations for their door. Others will settle for nothing less than the real item imported from the country of origin. If your budget permits, you may shop around the import stores to find unique doors and treatments from far off lands. Many importers travel frequently to their homeland and have access to auctions, demolition sales, and factory-direct manufacturers. Top import operators have connections around the globe. You can own a piece of history (if you go with antiques) or modern design (if you go with a contemporary door). In either case, you will generally tell the importer the dimensions of your doorway, whether it is an external entry point or internal passageway, and of course, the amount you wish to spend. 8) Bookshelf Doors for Safe Rooms Typically, a passage way into the safe room is filled with a bookcase or other large cabinet or shelf. This unit is hinged and opens with a special lever revealing the passageway. This concept is great for creating safe rooms within the home. One very clever design incorporates a number of similar “built-in” units, with one of them being the “door” to the safe room. The shelves of the unit store real books, whatnots, and other common items. This further conceals the fact that while it appears to be just another bookshelf, it is in fact much more. The components used for these doors match the other nearby shelves. Hardwoods are choice for this function as they further fortify the entrance to the safe room. Bookshelf doors have been installed in homes as well as corporate offices. The heightened security and peace of mind is well worth the time, effort, and cost involved. 9) Secret Doors for Private Rooms Similar to the bookshelf door, secret doors can be concealed in many interesting ways. One technique is to install a door that fits flush into a wall. The door can then be painted to match this wall. This trick works best when the wall is painted with a mural or papered as the images help to conceal the door outline. This works even better if the wall is divided in half with decorative molding. The bottom half takes on a solid color and the top painted with an intricate mural that distracts the eye. The skirt molding that divides the wall is affixed to and divides the door, further distracting the human eye from the presence of a doorway. If done for fun and not for security, then standard door hardware can be utilized. If done with security in mind, a secret lever or pressure pad entry method may be installed. 10) A Fantasy Doorway Movies such as The Chronicles of Narnia have led to a new kind of fantasy hidden passage door. While it started with an innocent movie for kids, it has become popular amongst adults who engage in adult fantasy games. Behind the hidden passageway there may be brightly colored playrooms for the kids or dark, foreboding hideaways for the adventurous adult. This kind of door is a hidden portal to a secret fantasy room. A large piece of furniture, usually a large wardrobe cabinet, is placed in front of a small passageway that has been cut into the wall. This passageway is much shorter than the average doorway, usually only about three or four feet in height. It is sealed with a cut-out that has been painted to match the outward facing wall. This helps conceal the entrance should the furniture be pulled out away from the wall. The back of the furniture piece is also cut out and a sliding panel installed. Clothes handing in the wardrobe mask the paneled passageway from prying eyes. Once the wardrobe’s doors are opened, one may slide the panel open, pop out the seal from the wall and crawl through. There are many variations for this project and many different types of “secret rooms” hidden beyond! All of these ideas should inspire you to think outside the box when it comes to choosing your doors and sprucing them up. With careful choices and a bit of imagination, with hardware like bronze door knobs you can transform your doors completely, making them modern, magical, or magnificent. To find out more about Bronze Door Knobs and Bronze Cabinet Knobs, please click here.
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